Pharmaceutical giant Merck (NYSE: MRK) officially threw in the towel in its efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The company said it is halting the development of two candidates, V590 and V591, after a review of the results of phase 1 studies indicated that they were unlikely to provide adequate protection against the coronavirus. Instead, it will focus its COVID-19 research and production capabilities on two therapeutic drugs for the disease.
Merck had suggested at a conference last month that efficacy rates for ModernmRNA vaccine and that developed by collaborating partners Pfizer and BioNTech they were better than expected and set a high standard for their efforts. As seen, V590 and V591 produced lower immune responses not only to those produced by other vaccines, but also to those seen in patients who recovered from COVID-19 infections.
Image source: Getty Images.
Merck is the second largest seller of vaccines in the world, but it hesitated to develop one for COVID-19, staying months behind in the race. Eventually, it launched programs to develop single-dose vaccine candidates based on proven technology, one using the viral vector that Merck uses in its approved Ebola vaccine and one from a company it acquired last year in the hope of getting multiple injections in the COVID- 19 goals. Instead, Merck will charge a non-cash charge on its fourth quarter earnings for the programs.
However, the pharmaceutical company still has high hopes for two candidates for COVID-19 treatment. MK-7110 is an anti-inflammatory drug that appears to reduce the risk of death or respiratory failure in patients with moderate to severely ill COVID-19 by up to 50%. The results of the phase 3 test for him are expected in the first quarter. Molnupiravir (MK-4482) is an oral antiviral that is being evaluated in trials due to be completed in May. If successful, this drug could compete with Gileadit is remdesivir, which faces some skepticism about its effectiveness.